Eskom getting R23 billion government investment: President Zuma

FEBRUARY 13, 2015

Proceeding with his State of the Nation Address (SONA) after the drama that was witnessed in Parliament on Thursday evening, President Jacob Zuma announced struggling power utility, Eskom, would get a R23 billion investment from government to address the current the country’s power woes.

Zuma said that Eskom has been directed to switch from diesel to gas adding that the construction of three new power stations will add 10,000 megawatts to the national grid.

“The short and medium term plan involves improved maintenance of Eskom power stations and managing the electricity demand. The long term plan involves finalising our long term energy security master plan,” he said.

Eskom blamed the current load shedding on several of its power generation units that are currently out of service because of breakdowns and routine maintenance.

Last week, it implemented load shedding for ten consecutive days.

On Friday, morning it said that the grid system was under severe strain.